hey guitar gurus

[tomg]

If the strat has a standard pickguard, EMG has a drop-in pickguard WITH pickups and those are the hottest around, but they don't HAVE to go that hot...

I've always wanted the EMG DG-20, but since I got the Variax it doesn't seem as necessary.
It sounds like a good choice for the OP though.

A lot of people who have put the DG20 on their guitars aren't necessarily happy about it. Changes the tone, battery goes dead if you forget to unplug your guitar and it's located under the pick guard, regardless it has to be changed twice a year, they say the tone is not all that impressive, and it cost $380 bucks.

Everybody says it's very quite with a slight hum tho. Anyway you probably did well by not doing it.

EDIT: Not to say everybody likes the RG350... by any means...

[tomg]

Ibanez RG321 $280 - No Trem.. Less Money.. May actually be a better guitar than the 350.

http://www.samedaymusic.com/product--IBARG321

[beltrom]

A lot of people who have put the DG20 on their guitars aren't necessarily happy about it. Changes the tone, battery goes dead if you forget to unplug your guitar and it's located under the pick guard, regardless it has to be changed twice a year, they say the tone is not all that impressive, and it cost $380 bucks.

Everybody says it's very quite with a slight hum tho. Anyway you probably did well by not doing it.

Thanks! Hadn't heard anything bad about it before so you made me feel better about not buying it.
I have a few other guitars (4 electric) apart from the Variax covering most bases so I probably should be content and play.
If I can't achieve the results I want it's probably not the guitars fault...

[Laguna Rising]

I have a standatd mexistrat that while I have often thought about selling, only realize that it has one of the most comfortable necks of any guitar I have played at any price. it really just fits my hands perfectly.

My main dislikes- the factory pickups are fender twang times 100. I just generally think they sound weak and tinny mesself

I also have a mexican strat, and the only thing I changed is the bridge pick-up. I installed a Seymour Duncan mini-Humbucker Hot Rails and it sounds fantastic ! On higher gain levels the strat sound is a bit compromised but on normal gain level it keeps its identity.
I can understand what a 'normal level' is by switching to the neck PU : on low levels of distortion their output is similar, on highers the SD become a screaming beast...

Cheers

[Stupid American Pig]

well the plan was to just buy a 2nd pickguard to wire up the new pickupsas for the bridge, I may just add more springs and tighten up my tuning heads...

so it wont be "ruined" I do like the twang .0001% of the time when its applicable... :hihi"

[Lunch Money]

If I had a strat for modding, I'd drop some Lace Alumitones into it. Not the "traditional" strat sound, but that's cool by me. I get sick of everyone wanting to clone the same sounds.

Or, if you want to be more traditional, Lace has plenty of other options. Some people find them 'sterile' compared to traditional passives, but meh... they say that about EMGs, too. People are dumb. I don't trust'em.

Greg

[Dominus]

Or, if you want to be more traditional, Lace has plenty of other options. Some people find them 'sterile' compared to traditional passives, but meh... they say that about EMGs, too. People are dumb. I don't trust'em.

Greg

I think what they mean by sterile is that the EMGs sound about the same in any guitar, not that they sound too clean and lifeless. Believe me, EMGs can SAVE an Agathis bodied guitar.

[rockstar_not]

If you drop anything into the bridge pup location, you should also do a mod so that you can get tone control on it. IMO.

Std strats come wired with the tail pup direct to the volume pot, bypassing any tone control. I know it's tradition, but it's a terrible way to treat the bridge position.

-Scott

[Lunch Money]

I think what they mean by sterile is that the EMGs sound about the same in any guitar, not that they sound too clean and lifeless. Believe me, EMGs can SAVE an Agathis bodied guitar.

Absolutely true. But nah, they mean it's lifeless. Like I said, people are dumb. <chuckle>

[Dominus]

I like EMGs and I've had a number of them over the years, but my current love is the Mighty Mite Motherbucker. $25 and it's just as powerful as the rest of the "metal" pickups.

[dreibel]

I have a Peavey Falcon (strat clone) which originally came with active electronics - hated it, too sterile except for the neck pickup, and it hissed on high gain settings. Ripped those out, and replaced them with three Seymour Duncan single-coil sized humbuckers:

neck - Cool Rails: retains a respectable amount of a good Strat neck tone, but a little darker and powerful. Great for jazz tones and woman tone.

middle: Vintage Rails - retains a more traditional Strat tone, and combines nicely with either neck or bridge pickups for the traditional in-phase tones.

bridge: George Lynch Lil' Screamin' Demon - fantastic pickup if you have a high-gain rig, in fact the more gain you throw at it the better it sounds! And it retains solid tone across all six strings, so the bottom strings don't mush out under heavy distortion. Also sounds respectable clean. The pole pieces are adjustable on this one. This pickup is a little tamer regarding output.

one tip when wiring these types of pickups: change the pots to 500K, 250K pots tend to make these pickups sound dark. I used to have to adjust the presence contro on my Peavey Classic 50 when switching guitars, having the 500K pots put in was like lifting a blanket off the amp.

If you're short on cash, check out Guitar Fetish Pickups; I put two of his rail pickups in a Peavey Predator and they sound good.

[Cosmic Bandito]

I modded the hell out of my strat, tried a bunch of humbuckers over the last few years. if you find most pups sound bright there, try the Virtual Hot PAF by Dimarzio, best "production" bucker for the bridge of a strat IMHO (just look at EQ curve on dimarzio's site it's all bass & mids).

For the singles, it depends what you want. Real single coil tone, I think the Seymour Duncan SSL's or Antiquities or something like that. For noiseless singlecoils, people love the Dimarzio 2.1s or the Area's if you want vintage tone.

I've got 2 Area 58's ans VH PAF and I'm done looking for pups, but to each his own...

[Lunch Money]

Not all active electronics are created equal, that's for sure. And some active systems just use "normal" passives through a preamp/boost/EQ phase. Part of the EMG design comes down to the quality of the preamp and the fact that it has low-output coils with far fewer winds. So you're not just boosting the noise floor of a standard passive.

Not absolutely POSITIVE that the Peavey guitar would've done it that way, but it's more likely than Peavey having designed and come up with a line of EMG-style actives for its stratalikes.

In any event...

Alumitones or Transensors by Lace will give you a similar "hi-fi" tone, but in a passive electronics package.

[Ian B]

If you're short on cash, check out Guitar Fetish Pickups; I put two of his rail pickups in a Peavey Predator and they sound good.

+1 for Guitar Fetish pups. I replaced all 3 pups on my strat type S/S/H with 2 Lil Killers (neck and middle) and a Bigmouth in the bridge position, and they sound great imo. Even better, all 3 only cost $93.85 inc shipping to the UK.

[Stupid American Pig]

I replaced all 3 pups on my strat type S/S/H with 2 Lil Killers (neck and middle) and a Bigmouth in the bridge position, and they sound great imo. Even better, all 3 only cost $93.85 inc shipping to the UK.

What would BONES think!?!?!